Kenya Simbas coach Ian Snook said his team need to improve on their defence ahead of the World Rugby Repechage tournament which serves as a Rugby World Cup qualifier.

After failing to qualify for the world cup through the Rugby Africa Gold Cup, where they finished second to Namibia, the Kenyan team will be eager to secure the only place left at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.

The Kenyan team will embark on early preparations starting on 3 September ahead of the qualifying tournament.

"We must improve on defending ahead of the repechage. Our defence has been one of the problems during the Gold Cup and we must make sure we fix it." Snook told KweséESPN on Friday.

Kenya will join word cup hopefuls Canada, Hong Kong and Germany at the repechage competition at Stade Delort in Marseille, France from 11-23 November 2018.

"We must make sure we make good use of the team weeks ahead of the competition. It will not be an easy competition but the players know what to expect in France. We have what it takes to qualify, but it will call for hard work." added the coach.

"We are also hopeful that the Rugby Union will try to arrange some build-up games for the team before we travel to France. These build-up games will help us assess several things on the team before the final hurdle in the repechage." added the coach.

Kenya who are seeded third in the competition based on their current global ranking of 28th will begin the repechage campaign with a game against Canada on 11 November before taking on Hong Kong and Germany.

The winner of the tournament will secure a slot in Pool B alongside New Zealand, South Africa, Italy and Namibia at the Rugby World Cup in 2019.